New Delhi, Dec. 11: The Export-Import (Exim) Bank of India has created a $ 100-million corpus to provide credit on soft terms to finance exports to central and east European countries.

The move is designed to make up for lost ground in trade with these countries “where aggressive marketing by China, Turkey, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Japan, Australia and west European countries through a liberal and extensive line of credit has pushed their commodities, even in areas once our stronghold,” minister of state for commerce and industry Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

The bank’s export development fund will essentially route the line of credit to finance these exports.

Rudy said companies in sectors like engineering, electronics, glass and crystal should closely pursue investment or take-over proposals with their European counterparts.

He further pointed out other areas like software, IT, plastics, packaging, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, food processing and biotechnology, in which exports to east European countries could be increased.

“Buyer-seller meets, ‘India week’ or similar projects with the help of local chambers of commerce and departmental stores will help Indian businessmen increase their presence and showcase their goods in the east European market,” he added.

The minister said that with most of the east European states poised to become members of the European Union by the next decade, India should endeavour to establish a strong foothold in these markets.

On Monday, the government said the question of delays in notifying exim policy announcements would be resolved in a week, saying future declarations would be issued simultaneously with the exim policy.